Barca sign Zambrotta and Thuram

MADRID, July 21 (Reuters) - Barcelona have signed a deal with troubled Serie A club Juventus for Italy defender Gianluca Zambrotta and France defender Lilian Thuram, the Primera Liga club have confirmed.

Zambrotta, 29, has agreed a four-year contract while 34-year-old Thuram has negotiated a two-year deal.

Spanish media have reported that Barca will pay 14 million euros (£11million) for the Italian and five million for the Frenchman.

They become the European and Spanish champions' second and third new recruits in the close season after Icelandic striker Eidur Gudjohnsen joined from Chelsea.

World Cup winner Zambrotta, who has 58 caps for Italy, was under contract to Juve until 2010. The fullback can play on either side of defence.

He joined Juve as a right-sided midfielder from Bari in 1999 but was converted to a left back by former Juve coach Marcello Lippi, who continued to use him in that role when he took over the Italian national team.

Thuram has won a record 121 caps with France and announced his international retirement after losing in the World Cup final to Italy earlier this month.

A key member of the French side that won the World Cup in 1998 and the European Championship in 2000, Thuram can play in the centre of defence or at right back.

A former Monaco and Parma player, Thuram has won four league titles with Juventus alongside team mate Zambrotta.

Juventus have been involved in a match-fixing scandal in Italy and last week were ordered to start next season in Serie B on minus 30 points by a tribunal investigating the case.

Zambrotta and Thuram will join up with the Barcelona squad in time for next month's pre-season tour of the United States and Mexico.